The Psychology of Success – In The Beginning Success Is Often Stanky

I’ve been working out for a while. I was looking in my workout journal and I realized I haven’t missed a workout in four and a half months. I’ve been consistently getting it in. That’s the reason I am calling the video, The Psychology of Success.

I looked at the process. When you are getting started in that building phase, that ugly rough and rugged period when things aren’t crisp and clean, that’s when many people give up. I looked at what happened when I got a pinched nerve in my shoulder and it seriously impacted the bench overhead press. I could do the overhead press, but it hurt. I’m telling you a pinched nerve is a trip.

So, I went ahead and rehabbed it and kept working it out. That shit hurts. Then one day I was pressing and there was no pain.

I looked at that beginning stage, and looked at the weight and the reps. What was really hard then is not even my warmup weight now. The deal with the psychology of success is you have to weather that ugly phase where the results aren’t coming fast enough and the money is not coming in. You have to stick with it. So many people do not have the lives they want because they do not work through that rough, rugged phase.

My success today is predicated on what happened five months ago. If what happened five months ago didn’t happen, I would not be doing what I’m doing today. There is a direct correlation between effort, strategy and discipline and future success.

One of the main factors that contributes to the psychology of success is mindset. I was having this conversation with a friend last night and we were talking about my first book and he asked me, “What made you think you could do it?” The answer was surprising. “I didn’t think I could. I just did it.” I came up with a goal and had a two-year plan. I just sat down and said, “I’m going to do it.” I didn’t think I could do it. I just did it.

When you become a process person and a person of action, you put more emphasis on doing. When I was miserable, broke and not doing well overall in life, I was a big talker. Even now I talk a lot, but now I’m 90% action. I used to be 90% talk and 10% action. The results reflected that based on my efforts. If I can tell you anything about the psychology of success, it is that you must become a process driven person.

To have a process, requires action. Action is the greatest truth there is. Action tells you so much; it tells you what people are thinking. Let me give you an example. Some people say their kids are the most important thing in the world to them and then they spend no time with them. Look at the action.

The reality is when you get to the point where you can accept the truth of what people think of you and what you think of yourself; and what the world thinks of you and go from there, then you can begin to grow. You have to be honest with yourself and be accountable for your actions.

I don’t think anyone is unfixable. I do believe some people do not have enough personal investment to make the change. That’s not saying you don’t have the capacity. You don’t have the will.

I see people who are trying to get to that next level in their life and they don’t have a process. They don’t want to weather that rough period when success is borne. People don’t seem to understand that without the process, there will be no results. The process is more important than the results.

Going back to my workouts. I keep a workout journal, because it is very easy to get lost in the gym. I see people all the time that are lifting the same weight; there is no progression. There is no plan, so there are no results.

Your body will adapt to stuff very quickly. Once it adapts, you can give the same effort or maybe a little bit more and not yield any results. But, if you’re not tracking your results and your process, you won’t get the results you desire.

You’ve got to look at your life in this way. You’ve got to start looking at planning, strategy and action. You have to really focus on the process. I have a friend that started a business. They kind of dicked around with it for four years. I consulted with them. I saw they were actually doing some stuff. I did some stuff and he listened. He got amazing benefit from talking to me for about three hours.

Success lives in the rough startup process. It does not live in the big house. It does not drive the nice car.

If you are really focusing on the process and knowing what success is and is not, it puts you in a better position to be successful. It’s a voyage, not a destination. The industrial school complex teaches us to rush ahead and get stuff done to move onto the next thing to get stuff done and it doesn’t give you the discipline or the insight to really be successful.

Remember the psychology of success is a process. Part of the process is very ugly. It’s very uncomfortable. When you’re in that space, you’re being successful.

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